Ruaha Carnivore Project - Annual Report 2015 (digital edition)

Annual Report 2015The Ruaha Carnivore Project 1
Photo:AndrewHarrington
R U A H A C A R N I V O R E P R O J E C T
A N N U A L R E P O R T

Annual Report 20152 The Ruaha Carnivore Project
DIRECTOR’S REPORT 2015
FROM THE FIELD
This year has been an incredible one regard-
ing the global interest in lion conservation – in
July, the death of ‘Cecil’ the lion in Zimbabwe
sparked an outcry, and generated unprecedented passion
for conserving this amazing species. In terms of achieving
lion conservation on the ground, there are very few more
important places to do it than Tanzania’s Ruaha land-
scape, which holds 10% of the world’s lions but also has
extremely high rates of human-carnivore conflict and lion
killing. Our team has been working in this landscape since
2009, providing the first scientific information on Ruaha’s
large carnivores, working closely with communities to
reduce the costs and improve the benefits associated
with wildlife presence, and reducing carnivore killings.
Conducting this work is never easy – this year has
been beset by our normal array of problems, including
endless vehicle breakdowns, inter-tribal tensions,
impassable roads and many other challenges. However,
despite this, we have achieved some great successes.
We have maintained and expanded our programmes,
and developed a novel and exciting initiative, called
‘community camera-trapping’, where villagers themselves
monitor wildlife and receive direct community benefits
from their presence. 2015 proved a very successful
trial year, with villagers receiving significant healthcare,
veterinary health and educational benefits from the
programme. It has been very well received, so we will
be continuing and expanding the initiative during 2016.
We have also continued and expanded our secondary-
school scholarship programme, our school twinning
initiative, our predator-proof enclosure and guarding
dog programmes, and have also conducted extensive
ecological research and used the knowledge gained to
help inform Tanzanian policy and conservation plans.
Our Lion Guardians-based programme went from
strength to strength and expanded this year, with lion
killers-turned-conservationists now protecting lions over
700km2
of land across seven villages. In addition, the
Ruaha Lion Guardians team successfully passed the
official Lion Guardians certification, demonstrating high
standards of both community and lion protection.
Our work is having significant success around Ruaha
– we are seeing reduced livestock attacks, increased
community benefits, and reduced carnivore killings.
However, effective conservation requires action at a
huge scale, so we are proud to have co-founded the
Pride Lion Conservation Alliance this year, where we
are partnering with Ewaso Lions, Lion Guardians and
Niassa Lion Project and working together to conserve
carnivores across much of East Africa.
Achieving our goals requires a large, diverse and highly
dedicated team, and this now numbers over 60 full- and
part-time staff. The vast majority of our team are local
Tanzanians, and we have continued to invest in
building their capacity at all levels, from basic literacy to
University-level training. In addition to our local team, we
have an amazing network of international partners and
supporters, and we could not achieve anything without
that help. I want to thank everyone involved for all their
interest, energy and dedication towards helping us
achieve our conservation goals. Together we can really
make a difference and produce long-term
benefits for both people and predators. Thank
you very much!
Photo:JonErickson
Dr Amy Dickman, Director
Kaplan Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford

Tusk is enormously proud to be supporting
the vital conservation work of the Ruaha
Carnivore Project and we applaud the
extraordinary efforts of Amy Dickman and her small but
professional team who have had such a positive impact
in and around Ruaha National Park.
I have been fortunate enough to witness the work of RCP
on the ground. At a time when Africa’s lion population
is under immense pressure and real threat, it is hugely
significant that RCP is making such demonstrable
progress in helping to preserve one of the continent’s
largest and most important surviving populations.
It is no surprise that RCP’s conservation success has
been gained by combining rigorous scientific research
with tangible community engagement and education,
improving livelihoods and protecting Ruaha’s carnivores.
These elements form the core ethos of Tusk’s approach
to preserving Africa’s unique natural heritage and Amy
Dickman and her RCP team deserve our continued support.
I was particularly delighted that Amy’s work was publicly
recognised by our Royal Patron, HRH The Duke of
Cambridge, as one of the three finalists at our Tusk
Conservation Awards in 2014. The world desperately
needs committed conservationists like Amy
and we wish her continued success with her
team’s remarkable work in Tanzania.
Letter from Dr Amy Dickman
Letter from Charlie Mayhew MBE
Key achievements
Project context
Ecological research: Camera-trapping
Ecological research: Sightings
Reducing conflict: Protecting Livelihoods
Reducing conflict: Providing
Community Benefits
Reducing conflict: Lion Guardians
Outreach and education
Into the future
Interactions with partners
Building capacity
Financials
Students associated with RCP
Publications
Thank you! / Asante!
How to support us / Contact details
Contents
Charlie Mayhew
MBE, CEO of Tusk
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10
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12
13
14
15
16
LOCATION OF THE RUAHA LANDSCAPE
IN TANZANIA - EAST AFRICA

• Taken over 650 people into the Park on
educational trips
• Engaged nearly 20,000 attendees through our
wildlife DVD nights
• Trained and employed 14 Lion Guardians across
seven village zones, and achieved certification by
Lion Guardians in Kenya
• Trained and employed 16 local villagers as
community camera-trap officers
• Placed 9 Anatolian Shepherd livestock guarding
dogs, and kept one female at camp for breeding
• Trained and equipped 22 local drivers from eight
lodges in Ruaha National Park to collect data on large
carnivore sightings
• Collected ecological and demographic data on over
8,000 sightings of large carnivores
• 12 papers and book chapters produced using
RCP data
• Provided input for Tanzanian policy briefs and other
conservation outputs
• Reinforced over 120 livestock enclosures (bomas),
protecting nearly 16,000 livestock every night, worth
over US$2.2 million
• Lion Guardians prevented or stopped 28 lion hunts,
found over 5,200 lost livestock worth approximately
US$750,000 and reinforced 330 bomas using
traditional means
• Provided educational supplies to 10 twinned schools
• Provided US$145,000 of benefits to local communi-
ties, including approximately US$8,500 worth of
veterinary medicines, over US$30,000 worth of
educational materials, US$20,000 worth of health-
care supplies and US$86,000 of additional benefits
to local communities
• Established camera-trap grids in the Park, Wildlife
Management Areas and village land, generated over
2 million images, provided data on 49 mammal
species, and used that data for students and for
conservation planning
• Helped 7 students (including three East African
students) with university-level education, including
three Masters and three PhD students
• Co-founded the Pride Lion Conservation Alliance
with partners across East Africa
• Received multiple awards for our work
• Funded 16 pastoralist children through secondary
school as ‘Simba Scholars’
• Significantly reduced depredation and
carnivore killings in the core study area
Key achievements
The Ruaha Carnivore Project team and the extent of our activities have grown
significantly since the project’s inception in 2009. By the end of 2015 RCP had:
Photo:RuahaCarnivoreProject

Large carnivores are some of the world’s most iconic
and important species, and yet they are increasingly
imperilled. Lions are one of Africa’s flagship species,
but their numbers have halved in the last 20 years,
with around 20,000 remaining – this means that there
are now fewer wild lions left in Africa than rhinos.
Lions have disappeared from over 90% of their original
range, and now only six large populations remain. One
of those is in Tanzania’s Ruaha
landscape, which is estimated
to hold around a tenth of the
world’s remaining lions.
Other large carnivores have
experienced similarly dramatic
declines – African wild dogs
and cheetahs have also disap-
peared from over 90% of their
historic range, and are now threatened with extinction.
The Ruaha landscape is critically important for lions,
African wild dogs, cheetahs, leopards, spotted
hyaenas and many other species. This landscape is an
amazing wilderness, centred around the vast Ruaha
National Park, which at 20,226km2
is the largest Park
in East Africa. The Park is half as large again as the
Serengeti, and has wonderful scenery,
wildlife and lodges, but for some
reason has received very little
attention in terms of tourism,
research and conservation. The
greater Ruaha landscape incorpo-
rates the surrounding Game Reserves,
Wildlife ManagementAreas and village
land, and at around 45,000km2
it is one of the continent’s
largest and most important areas of wildlife habitat.
However, large carnivores are not safe even here,
as this area has an extremely high rate of carnivore
poisoning, snaring and spearing, particularly on village
land adjacent to the southern border of the Park. These
killings occur because carnivores impose high costs
on local communities through attacks on livestock, and
provide people with very few
benefits to incentivise their
conservation.
WildCRU’s Ruaha Carnivore
Project (RCP) was established
by Dr Amy Dickman in 2009,
in order to achieve two main
aims – to reduce the intense
human-carnivore conflict and
carnivore killing in this landscape, and to conduct
scientific research on carnivores in order to help inform
conservation planning. The project has developed a
multi-faceted approach to reducing conflict, including
reducing attacks, developing community benefit
initiatives, providing extensive education about wildlife,
and converting lion killers into lion conservationists.
Over the past six years, the project has
achieved a lot, as detailed here, but
there is still a very long way to go
before the ultimate goal is achieved,
which is where people genuinely see
wildlife as a benefit to their house-
holds, and where they coexist
successfully in this incredible
landscape and beyond.
Project context
Lions are one of Africa’s
flagship species, but
their numbers have halved
in the last 20 years, with
around 20,000 remaining
Photo:PietroLuraschi

Despite the international signifi-
cance of the Ruaha landscape,
particularly for large carnivores,
there was no dedicated carnivore
conservation or research project
in this area until RCP was
established in 2009. This lack of
attention has prevented the dev-
elopment of accurate and targeted
carnivore conservation plans for
this critical landscape. RCP
currently collects ecological data
using two main methods, camera-
trapping and direct sightings, and
shares its data with the Tanzanian
authorities in order to inform future
conservation plans.
Camera-trapping (where the move-
ment of wild animals past a camera
triggers it to take photos) is a vital
research tool in this landscape,
especially outside the Park where
wild animals are often secretive
and hard to see. We have estab-
lished networks of camera-traps in
the National Park, in the adjacent
Wildlife Management Area (WMA)
and on village land, with over 150
camera-traps operating as of the
end of 2015. Those camera-traps
have collected over 2 million
images, which is incredibly
informative as well as incredibly
time-consuming for the research
staff, as each image has to be
examined and the species identi-
fied and counted. Engaging citizen
scientists in this research would
make this process far more efficient,
so it is something we intend to
explore more in 2016.
Camera-traps provide a wealth of data on wildlife presence, habitat use, demography,
behaviour, population size and many other aspects of ecology. We used the presence data to
develop habitat suitability maps for lions, spotted hyaenas and leopards. This helps us pinpoint
areas of high risk for carnivore attacks and conflict, so that we can target our mitigation
efforts in those hotspots, and ideally prevent conflict and carnivore killing before it occurs.
camera-trapping
ecological research

In addition to the camera-trapping, we are working with
colleagues both within and outside Ruaha National Park,
in order to collect information from as many carnivore
sightings as possible. Understanding the dynamics,
distribution, movements and ecology of Ruaha’s vital
carnivore populations is extremely important, but our
team is too small to collect enough data alone. There-
fore, we equip Ruaha National Park lodge drivers with
data collection devices and cameras, and they record
and report large carnivore sightings to us each month.
After one year, as thanks for their help, the drivers get
to keep the cameras and we replace them with another
one. This initiative has been incredibly valuable, and by
the end of 2015, 22 drivers from eight lodges had report-
ed over 8,000 sightings to us, and had also generously
shared their invaluable insights into the behaviour and
ecology of Ruaha’s carnivore populations.
This information has been combined with the camera-
trapping data, and has allowed us to develop the first
maps of likely large carnivore distribution across the
Ruaha landscape, as well as publishing the first papers
on this subject and sharing the data with Tanzanian
authorities for conservation planning. The success of
the sightings programme has been noted by research-
ers studying elephants and vultures in Ruaha, so now
we are collaborating closely with one another – we work
together to train and equip the guides, and share the
data collected.
The information provided by the drivers has also
allowed us to develop the first tentative maps of lion
prides around the tourist area of Ruaha National Park.
The data the drivers provide is incredibly valuable, so
we will be continuing and expanding the programme
in 2016, especially as lodges open in new areas of
the Park. However, we also need to get information on
carnivore presence and movement outside tourist
areas, so during 2016 we plan to put the first satellite
collars on lions and spotted hyaenas around Ruaha,
so we can collect that information and use it to inform
future conservation plans.
SIGHTINGS
22 drivers engaged in
programme from 8 lodges
Over 8,000 large carnivore
sightings reported
First papers and maps
regarding Ruaha carnivore
presence produced
ecological research
Photo:PietroLuraschi

Carnivore attacks on stock are common
around Ruaha, and have a devastating
impact on local families. Attacks reduce
household economic security, while
losing stock also has major social
consequences in these traditional
pastoralist societies. People frequently
kill carnivores either to prevent attacks,
or in response to them, so reducing the
chance of an attack occurring is a top
priority for the project.
In this landscape, around two-thirds
of carnivore attacks occur in poorly
protected livestock enclosures, known
locally as ‘bomas’. RCP predator-proofs
vulnerable bomas using diamond-mesh
fencing, and contributes 75% of the cost
of the materials, which totals US$500
per boma. These have proved excep-
tionally effective, reducing livestock
loss in the fortified bomas by over 95%.
By the end of 2015, over 120 bomas
had been predator-proofed, protecting
around 16,000 livestock nightly, which
is worth over US$2.2 million to local
households. In addition, the Guardians
reinforce bomas using traditional
means (see page 10), and often sleep
out at households and actively chase
away lions if there is an imminent threat
of attack.
Protecting grazing livestock in the bush
is more complicated, but RCP has
established the first trial of specialised
livestock guarding dogs in East Africa,
importing Anatolian Shepherd dogs
from the Cheetah Conservation Fund
in Namibia. Nine dogs were placed and
one female was kept at RCP for future
breeding. We have lost several dogs
due to snakebite, illness and accidents,
but there have been no attacks on
herds accompanied by a dog, and they
are very popular amongst the commu-
nity, so we intend to continue and
expand this programme.
PROTECTING
LIVELIHOODS
REDUCING CONFLICT
We monitor the effects of our livestock protection measures by training
and employing conflict officers in local villages. By the end of 2015, we
had 11 such officers collecting regular data on over 500 households across
the study area, and responding to any carnivore attacks. Their information
helps us better understand the patterns of carnivore attacks and therefore
develop the most appropriate strategies for preventing them in the future.
BOMAS
IN NUMBERS
66% of all
carnivore attacks
occur due to
poorly protected
bomas
Predator-
proofing bomas
has cut livestock
losses by 95%
Over 120 RCP
bomas protect
16,000 livestock
nightly –
worth over
US$2.2 million
9 Anatolians
placed and zero
attacks on stock
accompanied
by them
Photos:JonErickson

Reducing carnivore attacks on stock is
vital for reducing conflict, but it is not
nearly enough on its own. For people to
truly want carnivores and other wildlife
around, they must get direct, tangible
benefits from their presence. We asked
villagers which benefits they would most
appreciate, and they selected three
themes – education, healthcare and
veterinary medicine – so we developed
initiatives for each theme.
For education, we have twinned local
village schools with international schools
under the Kids 4 Cats programme. The
international schools raise a minimum of
US$500 annually for their school, which
provides critically needed items such
as schoolbooks and desks. So far, ten
schools have been twinned, and we are
keen to do more, so please let us know
if you know of a school which might be
interested in supporting a Tanzanian
village school. Primary school is com-
pulsory for Tanzanian students, but
many people don’t send their children
to secondary school due to the cost.
Therefore, we developed the ‘Simba
Scholarships’ initiative, where we pro-
vide fully-funded scholarships through
all four years of secondary school to
the most promising pastoralist girls and
boys. To date, we have had 16 Simba
Scholars, and aim to have another 6 join
the programme in 2016.
For healthcare, we provided invaluable
medical supplies to Kitisi clinic at the
heart of the study area, with a focus
on maternal and infant health, while
for veterinary medicine, we provided
subsidised, good-quality veterinary
medicines to households which had
enrolled in our boma programme. These
initiatives have been very successful,
but we found that people were appreci-
ating the project and not necessarily the
wildlife directly.
Therefore, during 2015, we started the
community camera-trapping programme,
where villagers are trained and employed
to place camera-traps on village land,
and images of wildlife generate points,
which then translate into schoolbooks,
clinic supplies and veterinary medicines.
This has been very popular and suc-
cessful, and people are now tying the
benefits directly to wildlife presence.
So far, we have had 8 villages involved,
but in 2016 will expand this model
programme to 12 villages – more than
half those around Ruaha.
So far, we have invested over US$58,000
in targeted benefits (approximately
US$20,000 in healthcare, US$30,000 in
education and US$8,500 in veterinary
assistance) as well as an additional
US$86,000 through local benefits such
as employment. These benefits should
make local households more eco-
nomically secure, prove to local people
the direct value of wildlife, and most
importantly, reduce carnivore conflict
and killing.
PROVIDING
COMMUNITY
BEnEFITS
REDUCING CONFLICT
BENEFITS
IN NUMBERS
10 schools twinned
and 16 Simba
Scholars enrolled
Over US$58,000
provided in direct
benefits – US$20,000
in healthcare,
US$30,000 in educa-
tion and US$8,500 in
veterinary medicines
US$86,000 in
additional benefits –
US$145,000 benefits
provided in total

GUARDIANS
IN NUMBERS
28 lion hunts actively
prevented or stopped
330 bomas fortified
using local methods
>5,000 livestock
found: 96% of those
reported lost, and
worth >US$750,000
Lion Guardians team
in Ruaha achieved
formal certification
in 2015
Many lion killings in the Ruaha landscape
occur for cultural reasons, where young
men hunt lions in order to receive
accolades, gifts and female attention
from within their communities. To reduce
these killings, we have been working
with the Lion Guardians organisation in
Kenya, and adapting their model for the
Ruaha landscape. The Lion Guardians
approach is to select and train the most
influential local warriors, and employ
them to liaise with their communities and
stop lion hunts from occurring.
They also help householders reinforce
their bomas using traditional methods,
help find lost livestock (thereby helping
villagers and reducing the chances of
carnivore attacks and killings), monitor
the presence of lions and other wildlife,
and chase lions away from households if
people feel in danger. This job provides
them with status and wealth without
killing lions – and we now also host
traditional dancing events, so that men
can dance with young women without
needing a lion hunt to do so.
This has been very successful around
Ruaha – by the end of 2015 we had
14 warriors working across seven village
zones. They had prevented or actively
stopped 28 lion hunts, and had fortified
over 330 bomas using densely packed
thornbush. 5,492 livestock (2,465 cattle,
2,954 smallstock and 73 donkeys)
were reported as lost to the Guardians,
and they managed to find and safely
return 5,279 (96%) of them – this
included 2,420 cattle, 2,799 smallstock,
and 60 donkeys. The value of this
recovered stock to local households was
over US$750,000 – a hugely significant
amount in these poor pastoralist
societies. In addition, the Guardians
regularly monitored village land for lion
presence, and saw tracks of lion on
992 occasions, as well as directly seeing
lions 133 times.
The Ruaha Lion Guardians team under-
went a rigorous certification procedure
during 2015, and we are proud to
say they passed, so are now ready to
become independent from the main
Lion Guardians organisation. This will
allow the model to become even more
well-suited to the specifics of the Ruaha
situation, so we are excited about devel-
oping this programme further in 2016.
LION
GUARDIANS
REDUCING CONFLICT
Photos:PenelopeRogers

Although the plight of lions and other carnivores is
well-known in the West, many people around Ruaha
have no idea that these species are threatened, and
do not realise their national and global value. In
addition, people are often unsure about the best
methods of protecting livestock from attack, and how
to accurately determine which predator caused any
attack so that they can implement the most appropriate
protection methods.
We provide education on all these aspects through
DVD nights held in local villages, subvillages and
schools. These are extremely popular, and people
walk for miles in order to watch the wildlife videos and
learn more about RCP’s work. To date, we have had
around 20,000 attendees to the DVD nights, and there
is huge interest in continuing and expanding this across
the study area.
Very importantly, most people in the local area have
never seen species like lions or elephants unless they
are posing a threat
on village land, as they have
no vehicles or opportunities to visit
the nearby National Park. Unsurprisingly,
this means they tend to have a very one-sided
and negative view of these species. We conduct
regular trips into Ruaha National Park where we
take in elders, warriors, women and children, and these
visits enable people to see wildlife in their natural
setting, and to learn about the importance both of the
wildlife and of National Parks. To date, over 650 people
have taken part in these visits, and we have found that
they significantly improve local attitudes towards the
Park, the project and most importantly, even towards
potentially dangerous wildlife like lions.
Outreach and
education
INTO THE FUTURE Photo:LorenzoRossi
RCP has had marked conservation success, but the
challenge – and opportunity – is to make an even more
impactful contribution in the future. Overall, the outlook
for Africa’s large carnivores looks bleak, but RCP has
proved that with strong community programmes, strong
leadership, dedicated staff and sustained support from
partners, we can significantly improve coexistence
between people and predators.
Over the next 5 years, we aim to expand our programmes
to reduce carnivore attacks across hundreds more
households. We need to expand our guarding dog and
boma programmes, and extend our educational efforts
to thousands more people. We will collar large carnivores
to provide vitally-needed detailed ecological information,
and will develop citizen science platforms so people world-
wide can help us identify wild animals in Ruaha. We will
be adapting the Lion Guardians model to become more
Ruaha-specific and stop even more lion hunts.
Perhaps most importantly, we urgently need to
develop and deliver tangible benefits across thousands
more households, and help build Tanzanian capacity at
all levels. These goals are challenging, but thanks to
our wonderful team, and our amazing supporters, we
know we can achieve them and produce vital benefits
for both people and wildlife across Ruaha’s incredible
landscape.
Photo:PenelopeRogers
Photo:PaulineSalta
Photo:AndrewHarrington

Through 2015, our team presented information about RCP to a variety of
audiences, including many of our amazing partners in Europe and the US. Amy
was particularly honoured to be chosen to give the 2015 Tusk Conservation
Lecture at the Royal Geographical Society, which provided a wonderful oppor-
tunity to explain the complexities of carnivore conservation to a very engaged
and influential audience. We were also thrilled when Ayubu Msago, our long-
standing Community Liaison Officer, won a 2015 Warrior for Wildlife Award from
the Houston Zoo, in recognition of his long and dedicated career in wildlife
conservation. Perhaps most importantly, 2015 was the year that the ‘Pride Lion
Conservation Alliance’ was launched – an innovative new model of collaborative
lion conservation, of which RCP is a founding member.
Interactions
partners
RCP is deeply committed to building
capacity amongst the next generation
of conservation scientists, especially
within East Africa. To date, RCP has
helped train 7 university students
on-site, and has helped 3 East African
students enrol in and complete
university-level education, including at
highly prestigious institutions such as
the University of Oxford.
Building capacity
‘I will always be so grateful to the Ruaha Carnivore Project for
providing me with invaluable field experience, and for helping
me enrol into and complete a postgraduate diploma course at
Oxford University. Growing up in rural East Africa, I could never have imagined achieving
that kind of education at a world-class University, and I know that having such an amazing
opportunity will change my whole future.’ – Kennedy Ole Kariuki
with
± 20,000 attendees
to educational
DVD nights
Over 650 villagers
taken on educational
Park visits
12 published papers
and book chapters
from Ruaha research
7 post-graduate
students trained
through project
Dr Amy Dickman (2nd
from
left) with fellow finalists of the
prestigious Tusk Award, and
Tusk patron Prince William
the Duke of Cambridge.

The project has been increasingly
successful in receiving multi-year
funding commitments, and has
increased its donor base at all
levels. Over time, we have also
used unrestricted gifts to develop a
reserve in order to protect against
an unexpected shortfall in funding
or for sudden emergencies.
The project is fully audited through
the University of Oxford, which has
a charitable status in the UK, as
well as a 501(c)3 status in the
US through Americans for Oxford.
100% of all donations go to the
Ruaha Carnivore Project, and 90%
of all expenditure in the field goes
on direct conservation activities.
Financials
Since its inception in 2009, the project has grown
substantially, from a team of three people working in one
village, to a team of over 60 people working at a land-
scape scale across 21 different villages as well as the
Park and Wildlife Management Areas. The project initially
focused on conflict data collection, but now has 12 major
programmes and conducts extensive conflict mitigation
activities, with a particular focus on developing commu-
nity-level benefits from wildlife presence. As expected,
the budget has also grown significantly over time – while
the 2009 budget was around US$40,000, the project now
costs approximately US$350,000 per year to run.
The expenditure for 2015 was nearly US$340,000, as detailed in the Table below
Expenditure category Cost (US$) % Total
Ecological
research
Camera-trapping
Sightings
Other ecological research
44 287
23 407
8 517
13.1
6.9
2.5
Protecting
livelihoods
Bomas
Guard dogs
29 970
19 691
8.9
5.8
Community
benefits
Community camera-trapping
Kids 4 Cats
Simba Scholars
32 903
12 169
11 798
9.7
3.6
3.5
Lion Guardians Lion Guardians 53 643 15.8
Outreach &
education
DVD nights
Park trips
Other outreach
14 171
19 989
24 585
4.2
5.9
7.3
Other field
costs
Local travel
Miscellaneous
2 743
237
0.8
0.1
Non-field
costs
International travel
Overhead
3 872
36 518
1.1
10.8
Total 338 499 100
1 = Camera-trapping
2 = Sightings
3 = Other ecology
4 = Bomas
5 = Guard dogs
6 = Community
camera-traps
7 = Kids 4 Cats
8 = Simba Scholars
9 = Lion Guardians
10 = DVD nights
11 = Park trips
12 = Other outreach
13 = Local travel
14 = Miscellaneous
15 = International
travel
16 = Overhead
2015expenditure(US$)
80 000
70 000
60 000
50 000
40 000
30 000
20 000
10 000
0
Ecological
research
Protecting
livelihoods
Community
benefits
Lion
Guardians
Outreach &
education
Other
field costs
Non-field
costs
2
3
1
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
90% of field expenditure went
directly to conservation fieldwork
100% of donated
funds go to RCP
Project cost around
US$ 350,000 to run in 2015

Leandro Abade – MSc and
PhD at Oxford University
Leejiah Dorward – PhD
at Oxford University
Arthur Muneza MSc –
Michigan State University
Jeremy Cusack PhD
– Oxford University
Mgumba Msafiri –
Postgraduate Diploma at
Oxford University
Monty Kalyahe –
MSc at Manchester
Metropolitan University
Abade, L., Macdonald, D.W., Dickman,
A.J., 2014a. Assessing the relative impor-
tance of landscape and husbandry factors
in determining large carnivore depreda-
tion risk in Tanzania’s Ruaha landscape.
Biological Conservation 180, 241-248.
Abade, L., Macdonald, D.W., Dickman,
A.J., 2014b. Using Landscape and Biocli-
matic Features to Predict the Distribution
of Lions, Leopards and Spotted Hyaenas
in Tanzania’s Ruaha Landscape. PLoS
ONE 9, e96261.
Cusack, J., Dickman, A.J., Rowcliffe, J.M.,
Carbone, C., Macdonald, D.W., Coulson,
T., 2015. Random versus trail-based
camera trap placement for monitoring
terrestrial mammal communities: revealing
two faces of the same coin? PLoS ONE
10, e0126373.
Dickman, A., 2010. Complexities of con-
flict: the importance of considering social
factors for effectively resolving human–
wildlife conflict. Animal Conservation 13,
458-466.
Dickman, A., Hazzah, L., Carbone, C.,
Durant, S., 2014. Carnivores, culture and
‘contagious conflict’: Multiple factors influ-
ence perceived problems with carnivores
in Tanzania’s Ruaha landscape. Biological
Conservation 178, 19-27.
Dickman, A., Marchini, S., Manfredo,
M., 2013. The importance of the human
dimension in addressing conflict with large
carnivores, In Key Topics in Conservation
Biology (2). eds D.W. Macdonald, K. Wil-
lis, pp. 110-126. Oxford University Press,
Oxford, U.K.
Dickman, A.J., 2012. From Cheetahs to
Chimpanzees: A Comparative Review of
the Drivers of Human-Carnivore Conflict
and Human-Primate Conflict. Folia Prima-
tologica 83, 377-387.
Dickman, A.J., 2015. Large carnivores and
conflict in Tanzania’s Ruaha landscape,
In Conflicts in Conservation: Navigating
Towards Solutions. eds S.M. Redpath,
R.J. Gutierrez, K.A. Wood, J.C. Young,
pp. 30-32. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, U.K.
Dickman, A.J., Hazzah, L., in press.
Money, Myths and Man-eaters: Complexi-
ties of human-wildlife conflict, In Problem-
atic Wildlife. ed. F. Angelici.
Durant, S.M., Dickman, A.J., Maddox, T.,
Waweru, M., Pettorelli, N., 2010. Past,
present and future of cheetah in Tanza-
nia: from long term study to conservation
strategy, In Biology and conservation of
wild felids. eds D.W. Macdonald, A.J.
Loveridge, pp. 373-382. Oxford University
Press, Oxford, U.K.
Lindsey, P., Balme, G., Becker, M., Begg,
C., Bento, C., Bocchino, C., Dickman, A.,
et al, 2013. The bushmeat trade in African
savannas: Impacts, drivers and possible
solutions. Biological Conservation 160,
80-96.
Muneza, A.B., Montgomery, R.A., Fen-
nessy, J.T., Dickman, A.J., Roloff, G.J.,
Macdonald, D.W., 2016. Regional variation
of the manifestation, prevalence, and
severity of giraffe skin disease: a review of
an emerging disease in wild and captive
giraffe populations. Biological Conserva-
tion 198, 145-156.
Data from RCP have been used to produce the following
12 academic articles to date, all of which have been peer-reviewed and published in reputable journals
or books. In addition, RCP knowledge has been used to inform research briefs and policy briefs within Tanzania.
Publications to date
STUDENTS RCPASSOCIATED
WITH
Kennedy Ole Kariuki – Postgraduate
Diploma at Oxford University

THANK YOU! Asante!
We could not do any of our conservation work without the generous support
of many individuals and organisations around the world. We work actively
with several organisations which greatly facilitate our work in Tanzania, and
their logos are shown below:
Photo:LeejiahDorward
All donors are recognised in the University of Oxford Annual reports, but
we would like to particularly highlight the key supporters below, who have
given so generously for our work in 2015.
Photo:LorenzoRossiPhoto:LorenzoRossi
AAZK Pont Defiance ● African Wildlife Foundation
● American Chamber of Commerce in Tanzania ●
Asilia Foundation ● AZA Conservation Endowment Fund
/ Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund ● Charles Scott
Riley Foundation ● Chester Zoo ● Cincinnati Zoo’s Angel
Fund ● Cleveland Zoo Society / Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
● Columbus Zoo / Cheetah SSP ● Conservation and
Research Foundation ● Dallas Zoo ● Fresno Chaffee Zoo
● Huwel Enterprises ● Handsel Foundation ●
Houston Zoo ● J. Frederick and Helen Vogel Trust
● Leiden Conservation Foundation ● Naples Zoo ●
National Geographic Big Cats Initiative ● National Zoo
● Niabi Zoo ● Oregon Zoo ● Peoples Trust for
Endangered Species ● Phoenix Zoo ● Portland AAZK
● Riverbanks Zoo ● Rotterdam Zoo ● Seaworld &
Busch Gardens Conservation Fund ● St Louis Zoo ●
Tapeats Fund ● Taronga Conservation Society Australia
● Tusk ● Tusk Trust ● Wetherby Preparatory School
● Woodland Park Zoo ● Zoo Atlanta ●

Photo:PaulineSalta
twin a school
For more information on how to twin
a school, sponsor a Simba scholar
or get involved in another way,
please contact Amy Dickman on
amy.dickman@zoo.ox.ac.uk
Other ways
TO support
Everyone likes a present, and we
are no different! The project has a
wish list on Amazon. Please search
for ‘Ruaha Carnivore Project’ on
Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
VIA CHEQUE
Contact Amy Dickman on
for details on how to
donate via cheque.
Donating VIA EFT
Bank: Barclays Bank plc
Account Name: University of
Oxford Development Trust
Account Number: 40155586
Sort Code: 20-65-20
Swift Code: BARCGB22
IBAN Number:
GB06BARC20652040155586
US donors [Online]
http://lions.houstonzoo.org/
projects/ruaha-carnivore-project/
UK donors [Online]
www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/report/
ruaha-carnivore-project
RUAHA
CARNIVORE PROJECT
Dr. Amy Dickman
University of Oxford
Department of Zoology
Tubney House
Abingdon Road
Tubney
Oxfordshire, UK
OX13 5QL

www.ruahacarnivoreproject.com
+44 1865 611 100
+44 1865 611 101
@ruahacarnivoreproject
SWAHILI PROVERB
Cheche dogo hufanya moto mkubwa.
~ A small spark makes a great fire. ~

Ruaha Carnivore Project - Annual Report 2015 (digital edition)

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